The general background of infusion devices can be found in Szabo et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,938, and in Szabo et al., copending U.S. application Ser. No. 579,232 which issued to U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,065.
As can be seen from the above noted prior art, a variety of infusion arrangements have been proposed to meet the problems associated with the infusion of fluid into an ambulatory patient. A disadvantage of these devices is that the basic power and timing mechanism is only incorporable into one infusion apparatus configuration. Thus, though one of these devices might be easily mountable to one portion of a patient's body, it might not be so easily mountable to another. Consequently, different types of devices with different power mechanisms specifically adaptable to the various bodily configuration would have to be stocked and maintained.
Also there are times when it is desirable to be able to disengage the power and timing mechanisms from the receptacle which stores the fluid to be infused. Such a need arises when the receptacle is initially filled, and when it becomes desirable during the actual infusion process to interrupt that process. Thus this disengaging ability could be used to, for example, temporarily discontinue the fluid administration without disconnecting the device from the patient, or to enable the fluid to be manually administered.
Further, prior art devices generally lack the ability to store and administer large quantities of a fluid, as for example, required for the administration of blood.
Finally, prior devices have, in general, lacked a speed control to adjust the rate at which fluid is infused into a patient. Such a control to be used effectively must be simple in operation and design.